A pause, then murder witness puts 'Madman' at scene

A key witness in state Supreme Court identified a Bronx man as being the second person in the room during the shooting of a woman from the Mariners Harbor section of Staten Island last year.

Police are trying to prove David Mitchell, 27, a self-described rapper who goes by the moniker "Madman," was the mastermind behind the shooting death. He is charged with second-degree murder.

Angel Irizarry, known on the street as "Shorty," confessed to pulling the trigger out of revenge for being robbed. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in exchange for 11 years in prison and the promise to testify in court that Mitchell encouraged him to shoot the 48-year-old victim.

Today's witness was Sandra Medina, a friend of the victim, Janette DeGrascia.

When the prosecutor asked her who showed up at the eighth-floor Holland Avenue apartment with Irizarry at about 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 9, Ms. Medina took a long pause.

Jurors watched for nearly a minute as the Mariners Harbor woman fidgeted, her eyes nervously darting back and forth.